12x20 garage?

I plan on building my 12×20 garage this spring or summer when I have time off my job. I am wondering this shop be good enough? Someone broke into my old 10×12 shed and stole my brand new Dewalt miter saw.

-- Woodworking with Limited Tools

34 replies so far

Many of us lived with less for a long time. Sorry about your saw. I never shop at pawn shops for that reason. I lock everything each nite including chaining my miter saw to the wall. The world we live in. Good luck.

by my calculationsthe new shopshould be twice as big as the last one (lol)

all i can think is maybe a little wider if possibleby the time you get benches or shelving on the side wallsthe center work area might be tight with the tools theresome walking room there would be good

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

Fill dirt will be cheaper now than later if you decide you need to go bigger in a year or two. We just went through this with a new driveway and the contractor said we would save money going bigger now than trying to add on in a year or two. It was more than our original budget but I am glad we did it now that it is finished.

I think getting a new shop is a great idea. However, I just took my 12×20 garage and added on to the back making it a 12×36 workshop (could be called a two-car garage). I insulated all of it, put in a ‘motel-style’ heating A/C unit and am totally thrilled. I can now work in the garage when it is too cold/too hot otherwise. I love the bigger workshop. I was going to post pix but I cannot edit my last “workshop” post on here (delete old pix and add new ones) unless someone can tell me how to do this. You can see what I did with my ‘old’ shop and when I know how I’ll post pix of my ‘new’ shop!

-- Dan Christensen "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." --PLATO

I saw somewhere that the average shop is about 240 square feet which this would be. Given the choice between 16 X 16 (256 ft) and 12X20 I would take the 12X20. What is your choice for table saw? If you are like me and value conscious (that’s PC Speak for “cheapskate”) and use a contractor’s saw you can set the work benches up to serve as out feed tables to cut anything up to 4X8 sheets.

And, while it may cost a little more to start with, consider running the roof peak cross ways instead of on the long axis. That way if money becomes available for expansion the roof will allow you to easily double to 20X24.

Good luck with your new adventure in building your shop, I wish I had a chance to build my own. Make it the way I wanted it, I am envious. Mine is a 18×18 Garage and it fits me fine. Work with what you got and enjoy it.